Category Archives: Physiology

Physiology

IS This ALL a PLAN-DEMIC? – The Way

Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2008, French Professor Montagnieron in interview with CNews Direct in Paris, insists that more and more researchers are coming to the same conclusion; that the Lock-Step- driven, King Billy & Melinda Gates of Hell Foundation, Fauci, CCP, Wuhan, 2019 Novel SARS-CoV-2 Virus, COVID-19 (COVID 1984) is partially lab grown. No Kidding. He finally says that evidences and research papers are being suppressed; but that nobody can exert any kind of pressure on him, when considering his legacy and Nobel credentials.

Luc Antoine Montagnier was born 18 August 1932 and is a French virologist and joint recipient with Franoise Barr-Sinoussi and Harald zur Hausen of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). He is a long-time researcher at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, and now he currently works as a full-time professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China.

Here is the transcript of that portion of the interview relevant to my article of today.

Host: So what interests me this morning is that you are working right now on the virus..

Pr. Montagnier: Im working on it, but not necessarily in the lab, since we mainly work on computers along with a colleague. We have no experiments, but the experience comes from the disease itself; from the measures that are made currently in labs and on patients

Host: And you came out with conclusions.

Pr. Montagnier: Well, we came to the conclusion that there has been a manipulation regarding this virus

Host: What do you mean?

Pr. Montagnier: In fact, part of the virus, not the whole, is manipulated. Well, the virus follows a classic model that comes from bats; but on top of this model they have added sequences of HIV, the AIDS virus.

Host: When you say they have added, you mean who?

Pr. Montagnier: Oh I dont know!

Host: ..and its not natural.. this is what you mean?

Pr. Montagnier: No its not natural. Its a lab work of professional molecular biologists. Its a very accurate workwe can say the work of a watchmaker..

Host: But for what purpose?

Pr. Montagnier: Well, for what purpose.. this is unclear. My job is to expose the facts. I accuse nobody. I dont know who did it; neither why. The possibility is probably they wanted to make a vaccine against the Aids. So they took small sequences of the virus and they installed them on the larger sequence of the coronavirus

Host: So Im not sure that Im understanding all what youre saying.. you mean that in this virus theres a part of HIV?

Pr. Montagnier: Youre right. The genetic material of the virus is a long tape of RNA.. as in DNA but its RNA. On this tape; in a certain place of it, they have planted small sequences of HIV. And these sequences are not small for nothing; they have the possibility to modify what we call, for example, the antigens sites. This means that if we want to make a vaccine, we can modify the protein subject to the vaccine by a small sequence coming from another virus

Host 2: Some rumors said that it has a human origin but this was refuted by scientific authorities anyway

Pr. Montagnier: Theres a will to suppress the works on the subject. We are not the first. A group of renowned Indian researchers have published the same thing. But they forced them to retract it.

Host 2: They forced them in what way?

Pr. Montagnier: It has been cancelled. If you check their work you find a cancellation band.

Host 2: But most of scientists say the opposite of what you claim here.

Pr. Montagnier: Less and less. It just happened at the beginning of this year; and we see more and more works that suggest the same thing. Im too old and Im a Nobel laureate so I can work freely; so no pressure can be exerted on me.

So there you have it. This could very well be a plandemic with a very real man-made virus which seems to explode in its epicentres and diminish in power and effect in its outward spread.

Whilst the initial escape might well have been from the Lab in Wuhan, where the virus was created is still under discussion, however, the fact that it was created, seems no longer to be under discussion by Professor Luc Montagnier.

As I have been saying for weeks now, what we are witnessing is an attempt to bring in the economic Beast System of Total Technocratic Tyrannical Control. The measure of their success in doing so, will be dependant on two things, first the will of the West to allow them to do so, and secondly the measure of Divine Intervention that comes against these wicked works of darkness.

Finally, remember, that if the truth alarms you, the problem is not with the truth,

Oh, and one more thing before I go today, Brace, Brace, Brace, and get ready for impact. The sound and impact of the technocratic hammer of tyranny falling, and the dance macabre will continue thereafter as the New World Order tries to push its control and kill agenda. Remember, their only answer to the Lock-Step- driven, King Billy & Melinda Gates of Hell Foundation, Fauci, CCP, Wuhan, 2019 Novel SARS-CoV-2 Virus, COVID-19 (COVID 1984) is the New World Order and its Control Vaccine, as it attempts to speedily implement its plans of World-Wide control to usher in the Anti-Christ, in what history shall record to be the Greatest Depression of all time.

We need a Saviour and I wonder if one shall soon be presented to humanity?

Meanwhile, get to the New Normal as soon as you can, because your world which you once knew has now gone forever.

The Future is here and it is NOW time for the time-of-the-end disciple to arise and for New Antiochs to be birthed, to meet the times now here.

Oh, and PS, I am beyond angry at what is going on, I am furious! And you should be too. Indeed, I am angry BECAUSE I am a Christian. If you are not angry yet, then I doubt your salvation. Maybe YOU are not a Christian. Think about that.

Oh and PPS, please plant a garden and protect it, and quietly extend your pantry, for food shortages are coming.

Free Lance Researcher & News Compiler | The Grinch | Published | 2020 | April 20 | 10:00 | UK LOCKDOWN DAY 27 | World Coronavirus Count: 2,407,000 infected, 165,069 dead

(I am The Grinch, both by name and nature, and, on the whole, I care more about having you informed rather than uplifted. I think that's why The Way still uses my services and why I am focussed on the CCP, Wuhan, 2019 Novel Corona SARS 2 Virus, COVID-19 (COVID 1984). Enjoy..or not..)

The Views expressed in this Opinion Editorial are entirely the view of The Grinch and does not necessarily reflect the views held by the Editorial Board of The Way, or the Trustees of 66Books.

Who is The Grinch? A Brief Explanation by The Grinch| I met Rev Victor Robert Farrell of The Way over 40 years ago when we served together on the same Submarine. Therefore, like him, I am old enough to know better but still young enough possess some fire in my bones. Unlike him though, I have nothing to lose, and consequently, I say what I like, making sure I always like what I say.

I live with my wife, Mrs. Grinch, not Mrs Hinch, though she has all of her books, though I am not sure if Mrs Hinch is a follower of Mrs Grinch? Anyway, having moved out of our council flat in Carnoustie, we now live off the grid in a 4 berth caravan parked in a big enough cave up in the Cairngorms with our 5 year old West Highland Terrier, Maisie. If push comes to shove, we shall eat her, but thats a long way off as we have been preppers now for years. Meanwhile, we love her to bits.

I do not have a cell phone, and only communicate with The Way via email, and to do this I have a satellite uplink to the internet. It is old technology, and though the signal redundancy is longer than I would like, it works and it keeps on working. Meanwhile, The Way have instructions to delete all my details PERMANANTLY and once a month to follow the treie and tested, Acid and Hammer Hilary Method of Hard-Drive Data Destruction.

I am a Christian, A Bible Believer and I am pro-human. My only goal in life is to speak the truth from a Biblical World View, and that means I am part of the biggest conspiracy theory (so-called) ever! Oh, and yes, like me, dont like me, I still dont really care.

Be well.

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IS This ALL a PLAN-DEMIC? - The Way

Physiology

Five Wyoming Cowboys Honored By NFF Hampshire Honor Society – K2 Radio

University of Wyoming football student-athletesJosiah Hall, Josh Harshman, Cooper Rothe, Nick SzporandBen Wisdorfwere honored by The National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame (NFF) as members of the 2020 Hampshire Honor Society.

To qualify for selection to the NFF Hampshire Honor Society, a college football player must achieve a minimum 3.20 cumulative grade point average, must meet all NCAA or NAIA progress toward degree requirements, must have been a starter or significant contributor to their team and must have completed their playing eligibility in the most recent college football season.

Defensive end Hall has earned a 3.467 cumulative grade-point average in American studies. Tight end Harshman has achieved a 3.363 cumulative GPA in physiology/kinesiology and health promotion. Place-kicker Rothe has earned a 3.719 GPA in finance. Holder and quarterback Szpor has posted a 3.223 in finance/economics, and linebacker Wisdorf has achieved a 3.510 cumulative GPA in finance.

This year marks the first time that Wyoming has had five individuals earn the award in the same year. The previous high for UW was four individuals in a single season, which was accomplished in 2019. It is the 13th year in the 14 years that the Hampshire Honor Society has been in existence that UW has had at least one individual selected.

The five seniors were all key members of Wyomings three bowl teams during their careers -- the 2016 Poinsettia Bowl, 2017 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl and 2019 NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl. Hall and Harshman were elected team captains this past season by their teammates. Rothe and Szpor both started every game of their college careers -- 52 straight games -- and Wisdorf played in 40 career games.

Over their careers, these five young men have helped us move our program forward both on the field and as representatives of our team and our university off the field, said head coachCraig Bohl. Its not easy to achieve what they have academically and as athletes. They have all been great team leaders, and I know that they will be extremely successful in their future careers. I want to congratulate, Josiah, Josh, Cooper, Nick and Ben for this great achievement.

Nominees from all levels of college football are eligible for the NFF Hampshire Honor Society, including; NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision, NCAA Football Championship Subdivision, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, and the NAIA.

The NFF Hampshire Honor Society was created in 2007 to honor college football student-athletes in all divisions.Jon F. Hanson, the chairman and founder of the Hampshire Companies, established an endowment to fund the NFF Hampshire Honor Society in `07. He was a former NFF Chairman from 1994-2006, and currently serves as NFF chairman emeritus.

Each player earning membership into this years Honor Society will receive a certificate commemorating their achievement.

A breakdown of the Wyoming Cowboys inducted into the Society through the years follows:

Hampshire Honor Society Members From the University of Wyoming

2020: Josiah Hall, Josh Harshman, Cooper Rothe, Nick Szpor and Ben

2019: Nico Evans, Adam Pilapil, Nick Smith and Andrew Wingard

2018: Drew Van Maanen

2017: Chase Roullier

2016: Cameron Coffman and Rafe Kiely

2015: Keenan Montgomery, Mark Nzeocha and Stuart Williams

2013: Luke Ruff and Oliver Schober

2012: Clayton Kirven

2011: Dax Crum, Chris Prosinski and Alex Toney

2010: Russ Arnold, Weston Johnson, and Jesson Salyards

2009: Jake Edmunds, Michael Ray, and Chris Sundberg

2008: Luke Chase, Sean Claffey, and Brandon Haugen

2007: Mike Groover, Tyler Holden, and John Wendling

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Five Wyoming Cowboys Honored By NFF Hampshire Honor Society - K2 Radio

Physiology

Here And Elsewhere, Obesity A Major Factor In Severe COVID-19 Illness | 90.1 FM WABE – WABE 90.1 FM

Obesity has emerged as a major predictor of severe COVID-19 illness, according to new research.

That linkage is demonstrated in Albany, where dozens of patients have died of COVID-19 at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital.

Phoebes chief medical officer, Dr. Steven Kitchen, said the hospital has not yet gathered precise data on obesity rates of coronavirus patients. But he told GHN on Thursday that a disproportionate percentage of our critically ill patients in our ICUs are morbidly obese.

Other medical conditions are frequently associated with obesity, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and kidney disease, Kitchen noted. Morbid obesity is probably an independent risk factor for poor health outcomes, he added.

Obesity is a rising problem in Georgia and the U.S. as a whole. Roughly one in three adults in the state is obese, according to County Health Rankings. That percentage is higher for African-Americans than other racial or ethnic groups.

And Dougherty County has a higher obesity rate than the Georgia average, Kitchen said.

The hospital is doing epidemiological studies on its COVID-19 patients with state public health officials and the CDC, as well as with the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University. Phoebe Putney reported nine more COVID-19 patient deaths Thursday, bringing the hospitals total to 64.

The CDC recently reported that among hospitalized COVID-19 patients studied, almost half were obese.

At Ochsner Health, a system with 41 hospitals in Louisiana and southern Mississippi, Dr. Leo Seoane, the companys senior vice president, said that 60 percent of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 had obesity, and that obesity appeared to nearly double their risk of requiring a ventilator, the New York Times reported.

Louisiana and Mississippi have a high number of deceased COVID-19 patients who were obese, USA Today reported.

The Georgia Department of Public Health said it hasnt tracked the rate of obesity among COVID-19 cases or among those who have died from the disease.

The new research points to obesity as the most significant risk factor, after only older age, for being hospitalized with COVID-19. Young adults with obesity appear to be at particular risk, studies show.

The age-adjusted prevalence of obesity among U.S. adults was 42 percent in 20172018.

Body mass index (BMI) is a measure of body fat based on height and weight that applies to adult men and women. A BMI of 30 or more is considered obese.

In one of two new studies released this week, COVID-19 patients who were younger than 60 and had a body mass index BMI between 30 and 34 were twice as likely as their non-obese peers to be admitted to the hospital for acute care instead of being sent home from the ER, the Los Angeles Times reported. They were also 1.8 times more likely to require critical care in a hospitals intensive care unit.

In a second report, a team of NYU doctors and researchers examined the factors that appeared to predispose 4,103 COVID-19 patients of all ages to hospitalization. The research is preliminary, and not peer reviewed. The study found that being older than 75 was the most potent predictor of hospitalization for COVID-19, followed by being between the ages of 65 and 75. The third-best predictor was having a BMI over 40, a condition doctors call severe obesity.

When all other factors were held equal, COVID-19 patients with severe obesity were more than six times more likely to be hospitalized than were patients who were not obese.

Dr. Phillip Coule, chief medical officer for Augusta University Health, said Thursday that there is certainly evidence to support a high body mass index as a major contributing factor to severe complications for COVID-19.

Obesity alters respiratory physiology, interfering with adequate function of the lungs, he said. And an obese patient is harder to prone positioning the individual on the stomach a technique that is used to improve respiratory mechanics, Coule said.

Obesity appears to disproportionately worsen COVID-19 outcomes, Coule told GHN.

The new findings about obesity risks are bad news for all Americans, but particularly for African-Americans and other people of color, who have higher rates of obesity and are already bearing a disproportionate burden of COVID-19 deaths, the New York Times reported. High rates of obesity are also prevalent among low-income white Americans, who may also be adversely affected, the newspaper reported.

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Here And Elsewhere, Obesity A Major Factor In Severe COVID-19 Illness | 90.1 FM WABE - WABE 90.1 FM

Physiology

The Right Chemistry: Hand sanitizers, homeopathy and humidifiers – London Free Press (Blogs)

The coronavirus questions just keep coming.

Are hand sanitizers and surface disinfectants labelled alcohol-free effective?

These products mostly use benzalkonium chloride, also known as alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chlorides, introduced in 1935 by the German bacteriologist Gerhard Domagk who received the 1939 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in recognition of his discovery of sulfonamides, the first truly effective antibiotic drugs. One of these, under the trade name Prontosil, was widely used until it was displaced in the 1940s by penicillin.

The alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chlorides are actually a mixture of compounds that are collectively known as quaternary ammonium salts. The term alkyl refers to a chain of carbon atoms that vary in length from eight to 18, with the 12 and 14 derivatives having the highest activity against bacteria, viruses and fungi. Aside from being disinfectants, these compounds have properties that allow for use as fabric softeners, hair conditioners and preservatives for pharmaceutical products. As far as hand sanitizers and surface disinfectants go, benzalkonium chloride is used at low concentrations in the range of 0.03 to 0.1 per cent. They are approved by Health Canada for inactivating the SARS-CoV-2 virus based on what is known about similar viruses, but how they fare when compared with alcohol-based disinfectants is not clear.

Can the homeopathic remedy Bryonia prevent infection by the coronavirus?

Bryonia is a plant, an extremely diluted extract of which is added to a sugar pellet to produce a homeopathic remedy. That dilution is so extreme that the sugar pill doesnt contain a single molecule from the original plant. Since nonexistent molecules cannot prevent disease, homeopaths propose that the dilution and ritual shaking between dilutions leaves some sort of imprint on the solution that has a physiological effect. Based on what we know about chemistry and the workings of the body, this makes no sense.

Homeopathic products can, however, serve as useful placebos for certain conditions, but viral infections do not respond to placebo treatment. This is even recognized by Boiron, the largest manufacturer of homeopathic products in the world. To its credit, the company has released a statement that It is certain that no Boiron homeopathic medicine is specific for the prevention or symptomatic treatment of the Coronavirus 2019-nCoV.

Yet, there are individual homeopaths who claim that they have successfully treated coronavirus infections. One Montreal homeopath reported the following in a newsletter: A most remarkable case among my patients is a 71-year-old man who contracted the virus with a cough, fever and extreme weakness. He called me the following day and began taking the homeopathic remedy I prescribed for him immediately. Within four days he was symptom-free. Almost more impressive is that his wife, in her late 60s, took remedies preventatively against COVID during the whole time he was sick and has not gotten sick herself, despite being her husbands primary caregiver. This is what is known as anecdotal evidence. We dont know if the man had actually contracted the virus, or that the homeopathic remedy was responsible for his improvement. His wife not contracting the disease is meaningless because we dont know if there was any disease to be contracted.

The homeopath goes on to suggest that Bryonia should be taken once a week, but if you know you have been exposed, or are likely to be exposed based on your profession, take it once every three to five days. Needless to say, there is zero evidence for this recommendation, but is it possibly harmful? Not physiologically, since nonexistent molecules do not produce side effects. But believing that one is being protected by taking Bryonia may result in people being more cavalier about physical distancing. Homeopathic rhetoric about preventing or treating COVID-19 has about as much substance as is contained in a Bryonia pellet. None.

Can a humidifier reduce the chance of coronavirus transmission?

Maybe. The most significant mode of transmission for viruses is through droplets emitted by coughs or sneezes. When the weather is humid, these droplets absorb moisture, become heavier, and fall to the ground. In dry weather, as in winter, the droplets are smaller and stay airborne longer. It is therefore possible that increasing indoor humidity can reduce the transmission of the virus from an infected person. There is another reason to increase humidity. Dryness causes the mucous membranes in the nasal passages that act as a barrier against microbes to dry out. Without sufficient moisture they become less effective at keeping invaders at bay. Making sure one is hydrated by drinking enough fluids helps to keep the mucous membranes from drying out, but drinking every 20 minutes as some circulating instructions suggest is not necessary.

Is it true that we should avoid eating eggs because viruses love eggs?

That bit of absurdity comes from Anthony William, the Medical Medium who dispenses advice he gets from a spirit. It seems the spirit has come to this conclusion based on viruses being cultured in eggs for the production of some vaccines. This of course has nothing to do with eating eggs. In the spirit of science, it is best to ignore any offerings from the Medical Medium and his spirit guide.

joe.schwarcz@mcgill.ca

Joe Schwarcz is director of McGill Universitys Office for Science & Society (mcgill.ca/oss). He hosts The Dr. Joe Show on CJAD Radio 800 AM every Sunday from 3 to 4 p.m.

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The Right Chemistry: Hand sanitizers, homeopathy and humidifiers - London Free Press (Blogs)

Physiology

How simulation-based learning is filling the educational gap left by Covid-19 for healthcare students – Thrive Global

As most students across the country have transitioned from in-person school to virtual on-line instruction, for some this approach isnt all thats needed. For the hundreds of thousands of healthcare students, including future nurses, pharmacists, physical and respiratory therapists, and physicians, who must earn hundreds of required hours of in-person clinical experiences to graduate and sit for licensing exams, the coronavirus has meant that these hands-on learning opportunities cannot happen. At a time when we are seeing hospitals overrun, large numbers of healthcare workers becoming ill or succumbing to coronavirus we simply cannot afford to have any slowdown in being able to inject new workers into the system. Fortunately, healthcare simulation is quickly being deployed to help fill this educational gap, thus helping to ensure that a new healthcare workforce will join the healthcare profession at a time when our medical system is under extreme stress. By allowing these students to graduate on schedule, simulation-based learning is playing a critical role in this urgent time.

Healthcare simulation is a technique used to replace or amplify real experiences with guided practices that evoke or replicate substantial aspects of the real world in an interactive manner. Healthcare simulation uses a variety of tools ranging from life-like or immersive simulated healthcare settings replete with almost anything you can find in a real clinical setting to virtual healthcare environments offered in a virtual format.

In the immersive version, humans alone or in combination with advanced technology manikins that can depict normal and abnormal human physiology create interactive settings where emergent and non-emergent scenarios can be created to provide safe practice arenas for learners without risk to patients or the potential for psychological trauma to students if an error were made on a human. In virtual simulation, computer-based programs similarly allow for practice in a safe environment, but do so using a computer-based platform. Virtual simulation does not allow some of the hands-on practice experiences or the in-person interactivity afforded in immersive simulation such as placing a breathing tube in a patient, palpating a pulse or practicing CPR compressions with real time feedback. But the usual disadvantage of virtual simulation not allowing hands-on practice has now become a huge advantage in a time of coronavirus because virtual simulation can fill the void in healthcare education when medical campuses have closed.

Simulation facilities are nearly ubiquitous in schools of nursing and medicine; most healthcare programs now incorporate some simulation to augment in-person clinical experiences and didactic content. In the last twenty years, simulation has garnered support for its use as part of quality healthcare programs due to its unique educational benefits backed by research demonstrating its effectiveness. Some pre-licensure programs, such as nursing, with the backing of accrediting bodies and state licensing boards have even begun using simulation to replace in-person clinical hours following a recent multi-site landmark study providing evidence that high quality simulation could reliably replace up to 50% of clinical hours while producing similar educational outcomes.

Simulation in many ways has been a game changer in terms of quality of healthcare education and readiness for practice of students, but we have never had to implement it like we are now in the absence of clinical experiences . While many healthcare schools are well versed at augmenting their curricula with immersive simulation alone or in combination with virtual simulation, the vast majority are not adept at completely replacing clinical hours with only virtual simulation. Also, the fact that immersive simulation isnt possible due to social distancing measures means this shift in educational programing has to be done at Mach speed to prevent hundreds of thousands of healthcare students to fall behind and fail to graduate on time. In a setting where healthcare systems are being tested beyond their limits, we simply cant afford not to ensure we can keep the pipeline of healthcare workers moving forward. Even before coronavirus, the US faced an impending nursing shortage, and we simply do not have enough healthcare workers or resources in rural settings. Coronavirus amplifies these dire circumstances. We need more healthcare workers, and we need them now. Some states are even pushing for the early graduation of healthcare students so that they can serve communities that are being hardest hit by coronavirus.

As a healthcare simulation expert, I am heartened by how the simulation community has come together to help, including educators, businesses, and organizations. Two of the major simulation organizations, Society for Simulation in Healthcare and the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning joined forces, putting out a joint position statement on the use of virtual simulation during the pandemic. The listserv of both organizations have become think tanks for new uses of simulation during these challenging times. WhatsApp groups, social media pages and cloud-drives are rife with resources that have been shared from all corners of the globe, and many companies have generously shared their products free of charge. Even in this time of social distancing and forced isolation, healthcare simulation educators and the simulation community as a whole have never been more connected and singly focused on a goal than now.

While the battle against an invisible enemy wages on across the world, simulationists are quietly readying the next generation of healthcare professionals using the best tools we know how. As scientists and current healthcare professionals test new medications and develop new treatments, we are conducting our own important work. We are testing the depth and breadth of healthcare simulation, learning how far we can push it, creating new ways to use it, and discovering how impactful it can be in a new setting. Our outcomes the next generation of healthcare soldiers ready for battle.

Jill Steiner Sanko is an assistant professor of Nursing and Health Studies at the University of Miami and a Public Voices Fellow.

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How simulation-based learning is filling the educational gap left by Covid-19 for healthcare students - Thrive Global

Physiology

Landmark study of adolescent brain development renews for additional seven years – National Institutes of Health

News Release

Wednesday, April 15, 2020

NIH-supported, multi-institute research program will generate robust data about how young brains mature.

With nearly $290M of new funding for seven years to research institutions around the country, the National Institutes of Health renewed its commitment to the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, the largest long-term study of brain development and child health ever conducted in the United States.

Launched in 2015, ABCD is following 11,750 children, including 2,100 who are twins or triplets, for at least 10 years starting at ages 9 to10. The new awards continue funding for a Coordinating Center and Data Analysis Informatics & Resource Center at the University of California, San Diego, as well as the research project sites where children are assessed.

The next phase of the ABCD study will help us understand the effects of substance use, as well as environmental, social, genetic, and other biological factors on the developing adolescent brain, said NIDA Director Nora D. Volkow, M.D. Since the participants are now in their vulnerable middle school years or are beginning high school, this is a critical time to learn more about what enhances or disrupts a young persons life trajectory.

Scientists are documenting exposures to drugs (including nicotine, alcohol, and marijuana), screen time activities, sleep patterns, engagement in sports and arts, among other variables, that may affect brain development, cognitive skills, mental health, and many other outcomes. The young participants undergo interviews and behavioral assessments once or twice a year, with physiological measures (e.g., blood pressure, cholesterol) of cardiovascular health and neuroimaging of brain structure and function every two years.

While the project is designed to answer long-held questions about the development of the teenage brain through the entire period of adolescence and beyond, the study has already released two sets of anonymized high-quality baseline data to the broader research community via the National Institute of Mental Health Data Archive to enable both ABCD investigators and non-ABCD researchers to pursue their own research questions. The dataso far more than 140 terabytesinclude basic participant demographics, assessments of physical and mental health, substance use, culture and environment, and neurocognition, tabulated structural and functional neuroimaging data, and minimally processed brain images. The comprehensive dataset, which is disaggregated by sex, racial/ethnic group, and socioeconomic status, allows researchers to address numerous questions that may ultimately inform health decisions and policies related to education, nutrition, physical activity, sleep, and prevention of substance use and mental illness.

So far, 32 research papers have been published using these data, with 11 from investigators not involved in the ABCD study. These analyses have led to a better understanding of the association between certain traits and experiences in adolescence (e.g., sleep, body mass index, family conflict, screen time) and brain physiology and other outcomes, such as cognitive ability and mental illness (e.g., depression and suicide). While most of these research projects have only looked at associations at a single point in time, data that will be collected over time will allow scientists to examine the developmental trajectories of individuals and how they are affected by many of the factors mentioned aboveincluding genetics.

Additional data will be released this summer that includes the six month and one-year follow up for the full cohort and other interim data. The data will be made available through the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Data Archive, which can be accessed by researchers who obtain a free NIMH Data Archive account.

The ABCD Study, like many other research projects, is adapting to the restrictions necessary to address COVID-19. Scientists will conduct virtual assessments as long as needed so that valuable data will not be lost, and participant health and safety will be ensured. It is crucial that researchers stay in contact with ABCD families throughout this period and resume comprehensive data collection when it is over to understand the factors that influence long-term developmental trajectories.

Information about the ABCD Study and the study sites can be found online. The ABCD Study was initiated by the Collaborative Research on Addiction at NIH (CRAN), a consortium of institutes that include a focus on addiction research. CRAN comprises NIDA, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National Cancer Institute. Other NIH collaborators in this project are the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke; the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, the NIH Office of Research on Womens Health, and the Division of Adolescent and School Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with additional partnerships with the National Institute of Justice, the CDC Division of Violence Prevention, the National Science Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIDA supports most of the worlds research on the health aspects of drug abuse and addiction. The Institute carries out a large variety of programs to inform policy and improve practice. Fact sheets on the health effects of drugs of abuse and information on NIDA research and other activities can be found at https://www.drugabuse.gov, which is compatible with your smartphone, iPad or tablet. To order publications in English or Spanish, call NIDAs DrugPubs research dissemination center at 1-877-NIDA-NIH or 240-645-0228 (TDD) or email requests to drugpubs@nida.nih.gov. Online ordering is available at https://drugpubs.drugabuse.gov. NIDAs media guide can be found at http://drugabuse.gov/mediaguide/, and its easy-to-read website can be found at https://www.easyread.drugabuse.gov.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH):NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.

NIHTurning Discovery Into Health

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Landmark study of adolescent brain development renews for additional seven years - National Institutes of Health

Physiology

Feel Like Youre in Prison? These Trainers Actually Were – The New York Times

In isolation is where I really learned to reflect, to think about what I wanted my life to be and what I was going to change, Mr. Guadalupe said. Its where I practiced yoga, its where a cellmate taught me to meditate.

Second U trainers have been discussing how prison mentally fortified them with each other, and their clients. There are huge parallels, said Tommy Morris, one trainer. Ive had people say to me, I dont know how you did it in prison, Ive been home two weeks and its driving me nuts. The most important thing is you have to have a regimen, you have to have a steady schedule of regular things you do. And if you can, take time out every morning for prayer, yoga, meditation, whatever you do to get in tune with yourself so you know fundamentally that you are OK.

Kerry Faherty, a founder and the chief impact officer of Faherty Brand, a clothing company, met Mr. Guadalupe when she invited him to speak about social justice at a company retreat after hearing about his work from an employee. Since then, she has joined the organizations board and is trying to help him scale his model nationally.

These people come out of jail with nothing, said Ms. Faherty, 36. They dont have money, they dont have a support system, many are coming from traumatic childhoods, many have been out of society for 10 to 30 years, and you have a criminal record how are you going to get a job? What Hector is doing makes a lot of sense.

She and her husband, Alex Faherty, also work out with Mr. Guadalupe weekly, and in the last several weeks, Faherty Brand has offered group fitness classes (normally $35 per person, per hour) for free to its employees in Zoom sessions led by trainers from A Second U. So have Bombas, the sock company, and others. Individual sessions cost $45 per hour. The screen can offer a layer of comfort on both sides.

Mr. Guadalupe is working to make sure that the coronavirus pandemic doesnt prevent the newest class of students from embarking on a path from halfway houses and uncertainty to a making a living, and possibly building a career. Distance classes of anatomy, physiology, CPR and computer skills will begin later this month.

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Feel Like Youre in Prison? These Trainers Actually Were - The New York Times

Physiology

Coach Kim: What to do when you’re overwhelmed by fear and uncertainty – KSL.com

SALT LAKE CITY Uncertainty is the fear of the unknown, and we are all experiencing that these days.

Fear is triggered when we feel out of control or when someone or something doesn't meet our expectations. We all live with various amounts of fear every day. But when a massive problem like a pandemic happens, it throws our entire society into fear, and we can quickly become overwhelmed.

Last week, I interviewed James Purpura, founder of Powerful U and the author of the book "Perception: Seeing is Not Believing," to get his thoughts about dealing with the uncertainty and fear we are all feeling.

Purpura said that in order to get a fundamental understanding of fear, we must first understand the core principle that dictates all of our experiences: Humans can only act in accordance with their beliefs based on their current physiological state.

The "belief" part is where many experts contend that we dont actually have free will, Purpura said, because we can only act in accordance with our beliefs. This is true because our beliefs create our perception of everything, he said.

Why are so many people acting irrationally when the vast majority of them know logically that they are not at risk of dying from the COVID-19 virus? The answer might shock you. Purpura said its because they dont have a choice to act differently.

This is where your physiological state (your bodys ability to function) comes into play because it dictates which parts of the brain you are able to access, he said. When youre in a fear state fight or flight you only have access to the part of your brain that deals with survival. When you are in survival mode, you are in a reactionary state and you dont have access to the area of the brain that dictates logic or reason.

Purpura explained that when you are in the physiology of fear, your mind views everything as a matter of life and death, which means it weighs every decision against your need to survive. This is why you feel so much resistance when you are in a fear state, and why you sometimes act irrationally and do things you dont really want to do, he said. Everyone knows that there is no logical need to have hundreds of rolls of toilet paper stockpiled in a garage, yet some otherwise reasonable people still buy more than necessary.

How do we break out of the physiology of fear and regain access to the rational parts of our brain? Purpura said we do it the same way our species has for hundreds of thousands of years.

But first, he said, its important to understand that we cant rationalize our way out of fear. This is because our minds are no longer in control; our bodies are.

Your body has to send a signal to your brain that the danger has passed and it is time to move out of fear into a higher state of awareness, Purpura said. You may need some deep diaphragmatic breathing to calm yourself down and change your state back to logic.

Back in the days when our ancestors really were fighting for survival, when they finished running to escape or were done fighting, Purpura explained, the first thing they did was catch their breath. This would be impossible to do until they were safe. That is why deep breathing is the signal to your brain that you can relax. That is also why meditation can be effective.

Deep breathing in meditation lets you take control of your physiology, Purpura explained. Most people dont meditate because they find it hard to clear their minds, he said, but most of the benefits of meditation come from the breathing.

First, recognize the shift in physiology due to the fear. Fear usually shows up in your body in the chest, midsection or stomach, Purpura said, but it can show up anywhere. If you catch it early enough, you can just breathe until the anxiety associated with the fear dissipates. Then you can process the fear rationally.

If you dont catch it right away, you can try the process below, but there are a few things you need to know first, Purpura said. This will take practice, and you will likely fail a few times before you get it right. Your mind may resist this process until it realizes that there is less pain associated with doing the process than defaulting to a fear pattern you instinctively run to.

When you experience fear that overwhelms your system, you will default to actions or behaviors to escape the pain, Purpura said. These behaviors become patterns that now run automatically whenever your fear is triggered. These patterns can be almost anything, including: addiction, expressing anger, beating yourself up, or even buying more toilet paper than you need. Awareness is the key to changing your automatic response to fear, Purpura said.

As feelings of fear, pain and discomfort intensify, you will start moving toward the behavior pattern you think will keep you from pain. But just before you engage in that unhealthy behavior, there will always be a pause. This pause, Purpura said, is your opportunity to shift out of the fear state before you engage your old pattern. Once that pattern is activated, it is very difficult to interrupt because you are then on autopilot.

Here are some steps Purpura recommends for taking advantage of the pause:

Purpura has been teaching and using this technique for years. I have found it very effective myself and recommend you try it when fear of the unknown gets triggered this week.

You can do this.

Authors note: Master Coach Kimberly Giles is offering a free Zoom call for any who are struggling during this quarantine time or want to spend it doing some personal development. Join her Monday nights at 7p.m. MDT at https://zoom.us/meeting/8187971392, or call #253-215-8782. She will be offering this FREE Coach Kim Clarity Call each week until we are past this challenging time.

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Coach Kim: What to do when you're overwhelmed by fear and uncertainty - KSL.com

Physiology

Coronavirus: How Will Isolation With Your Significant Other Impact Your Health? – The National Interest

In the wake of COVID-19 social distancing and stay-at-home orders, young couples may find themselves spending more time with each other than ever before.

In unprecedented times, couples navigate the latest relationship test. ItsDanSheehan/Twitter

As a developmental psychologist who conducts research on adolescent and young adult relationships, Im interested in understanding how young peoples everyday social interactions contribute to their health. Past research shows that people who have higher-quality friendships and romantic relationships during their teens and 20s typically have lower risk for illness and disease during adulthood, whereas individuals with early relationships characterized by conflict or violence experience heightened risk for negative health outcomes. Why might this be the case?

Can matters of the heart affect your heart?

My colleagues and I wondered whether young peoples everyday, seemingly mundane, interactions with their dating partners might have acute effects on their physiological functioning. These direct connections between social functioning and physiology could accumulate over time in ways that ultimately affect long-term health.

We conducted a study to examine whether young dating couples everyday romantic experiences were related to their physiology. We specifically investigated if couples feelings towards one another during the day predicted changes in their heart rate while they slept.

We focused on overnight heart rate because other research shows that having chronically elevated heart rate can hamper the essential restorative effects of sleep and increase risk for later cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death for men and women in the United States.

To test our question, we used participants from a larger, ongoing study in our lab at the University of Southern California to capture a day in the life of young dating couples. The couples, most of whom were in their early 20s and had been dating for 1-2 years, were recruited from the Los Angeles area.

24 hours together

They were asked to choose a day they were planning to spend most of their time together and, on that chosen day, couples came into our lab first thing in the morning. They were equipped with a wireless chest-strap heart monitor and lent a mobile phone that sent surveys every hour until they went to bed. When participants left the lab, they were told to go about their day as they normally would.

Our study focused on 63 heterosexual couples who had valid 24-hour heart rate data (some participants took the monitors off when they slept or reattached them incorrectly after showering).

Every hour during the day, participants rated two things: how annoyed and irritated they felt with their dating partner, and how close and connected they felt to their dating partner. Participants also reported on their hourly behaviors to make sure we knew about anything else that could affect their overnight heart rate like whether they drank alcohol, exercised or took medication. For 24 hours, the heart rate monitor tracked couples heartbeats per minute, an indicator of physiological activity.

From feelings to physiology

Even after taking into account both partners daytime heart rate, stress levels, drug or alcohol use and physical activity, we found that mens overnight heart rate changed depending on how women felt toward their partner throughout the day.

When women felt closer and more connected to their partners during the day, men had lower overnight heart rates. When women felt more annoyed and irritated with their partners during the day, men had higher overnight heart rates. On average, mens overnight heart rates were about 2 to 4 beats per minute slower in couples where women expressed more closeness. On the other hand, mens heart rates were about 1.5 to 3 beats per minute faster if women expressed greater annoyance.

Interestingly, we found that womens annoyance did not predict increases in mens heart rate, if women also felt close to their partners throughout the day. In other words, the negative effects of annoyance got diluted if some closeness was also in the mix.

There were actually no effects of mens annoyance or closeness on womens overnight heart rates mens cardiovascular responses appeared to be uniquely sensitive to womens daytime relationship feelings. Other research has found similar gender differences. One possibility is that women are more likely to express their feelings of closeness or annoyance, whereas men may feel less comfortable engaging in such communication.

Of course, every relationship has its natural ups and downs, and our study only captures a snapshot of young dating couples lives together. However, the findings suggest the way romantic partners feel about one another, even within a single day, can have acute effects on their biological functioning during sleep.

These seemingly trivial, everyday experiences could build up over time and help explain why relationships wind up affecting peoples health for better or for worse.

[You need to understand the coronavirus pandemic, and we can help. Read The Conversations newsletter.]

Hannah L. Schacter, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Wayne State University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Image: Reuters

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Coronavirus: How Will Isolation With Your Significant Other Impact Your Health? - The National Interest

Physiology

Sports, STEM, and science communication – Penn: Office of University Communications

Postdoc fellow John Drazan understands the importance of having credentials. As a former college basketball player, Drazan knows that athletics provides students with persistence, resilience, and a growth mindset. As a researcher, Drazan uses the scientific method to conduct biomechanics research with his mentor Josh Baxter at the Perelman School of Medicines Human Motion Lab.

Using his credentials in both sports and science, Drazan has spearheaded innovative ways to share STEM with sports communities through engaging, hands-on activities. Now, Drazan is also using his dual credentials to connect scientific experts with sports reporters to help communicate the science behind the coronavirus pandemic to a new audience.

Drazan first became interested in STEM when his high school physics teacher, a former NCAA Division I swimmer, showed him how math and physics could be applied to sports. I saw him as a respected athlete, not just a science teacher who was trying to grab my attention says Drazan, adding that learning from a teacher with credentials in both sports and STEM was a source of inspiration for him to pursue a career in science.

As a physics major at the State University of New York at Geneseo, where he also played varsity basketball, Drazan furthered his interest in the study of how the body works by creating his own biomechanics lab. With his unique perspective as an undergraduate physicist, Drazan went on to earn a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he studied loading patterns in orthopedic implants and developed new implantable medical devices.

While still working on his Ph.D., Drazans friend and former college basketball teammate John Scott reached out to see if he could help at-risk youth with math and rebounding as part of 4th Family Inc. Drazan quickly discovered that basketball could become a venue for teaching science to a new audience, and he and Scott went on to create the 4th Family STEM program which included summer programs such as The Science of Athletic Performance, which has helped more than 5,000 inner-city youth engage in hands-on activities focused on sports, science, and engineering.

Drazan later went on to develop similar outreach initiatives, including a partnership with Tomorrows Stars Foundation and the Court Science Academy, a four-day STEM education initiative held during the NBA Summer League. Middle school athletes from Las Vegas learned how to combine human physiology, data analytics, and engineering to study elite athletic performance. Drazan has also used science outreach to empower collegiate student athletes to be role models for their communities. Authenticity to sport is crucial, Drazan says, which is why he recruits college athletes to design, test, and run biometric tests to collect data from participants on metrics they consider important for their sport.

During these activities, Drazan collects data to evaluate how effective outreach events are in generating STEM interest for new audiences with the goal of increasing diversity in STEM. The challenge is getting people into STEM who arent already interested, and you cant be interested if you arent aware, says Drazan. Its why Drazan sees the incorporation of STEM with sports, which have pre-existing networks and diverse populations, as an important avenue for education and empowerment.

As part of his PennPORT IRACDA postdoctoral fellowship, Drazan is spending the year as a teaching fellow at Lincoln University, where he teaches an upper-level biology course on the science and engineering of sports physiology. As the novel coronavirus began to spread more quickly, Drazan shifted some of his focus in class to discuss the misinformation around COVID-19. One of the big things I talk about is that people with the most expertise are the most aware of how complex this situation is. Therefore they are often not likely to make declarative predictive statements, he says, emphasizing the importance of communicating uncertainty around the coronavirus and generalized scientific literacy.

As the latest recipient of the AAAS Early Career Award for Public Engagement, Drazan has also been tapping into his network of researchers, science communicators, and media outlets to help bring scientific experts to a new audience using a similar approach to his sports-focused STEM outreach initiatives. There are people who are dialed in and who value science news, Drazan says, but providing science in unexpected venues to reach new audiences is really important.

One of those unexpected venues is sports podcasts, whose audiences are currently dealing with cancellations across a wide range of events and leagues. Sports podcasts are a fantastic way to reach a broader audience, connect to topics that people are passionate about, and reach people where they are, says Liz Crocker, who works in the Center for Public Engagement with Science and Technology at the American Association for the Advancement of Science and has been helping connect Drazan with scientific experts for sports podcast interviews. This kind of initiative highlights the drive and creativity that earned Drazan the AAAS Early Career Award for Public Engagement with Science, Crocker says.

The first podcast that Drazan and Crocker helped coordinate was posted just three days after the NBA cancelled the 2020 season, which marked a massive shift in public perception around the seriousness of COVID-19. The Athletic interview with microbiologist Maria Elena Bottazzi and sports injury epidemiologist Zachary Binney focused on what was currently known about the novel coronavirus, how that knowledge related to the decision to suspend NBA games, and best practices for listeners on how they could deal with the virus.

Its a scary time, but if you are armed with information, its less scary, says The Athletic host Dave DuFour, who had met Drazan at an NBA Summer league event. This was our way of doing a public service, bringing people that are experts to discuss this thing affecting every single person on the planet.

Since then, Drazan has helped make connections for four additional sports podcast episodes, including one for SB Nations Buffalo Rumblings site. In that episode, Binney, who is also an avid football fan, was able to explain the COVID-19 response in the context of language already being used to talk about the teams new general manager (tear down, rebuild, success).

Were in an unprecedented media environment, where the risk of misinformation and conspiracy theories are putting peoples lives in immediate jeopardy, says Drazan, emphasizing that he hopes to continue fostering connections between scientists and sports media to help people understand the seriousness of COVID-19.

While currently busy analyzing biomechanics data, teaching at Lincoln, and writing research papers, Drazan is looking forward to doing more biomechanics research and STEM outreach in the future. In the meantime, his science outreach and communication efforts will be focused on connecting scientific experts with sports media outlets to inform the public.

As a former college athlete, he empathizes with how the sports community is feeling about the cancellations but hopes to keep getting the word out on why such cancellations are important. I can only imagine how it would feel to lose out on senior season, says Drazan. I understand how frustrating it is, but this is a national health crisis. Social distancing is really the only tool that we have in the short term. Sports took the lead with public messaging on the severity of coronavirus by suspending entire seasons, and it changed the publics perception. Even though sports are on hold for now, I think that sports are still providing our society with role models.

Images courtesy of John Drazan.

John Drazan is a Penn-Postdoctoral Opportunities in Research and Teaching (PennPORT) Fellow in the Human Motion Lab in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

This work was supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health (Grant K12GM081259).

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Sports, STEM, and science communication - Penn: Office of University Communications